Got my Vision today! It shipped quicker than the dealer thought. My wife and I took it out this evening and went to visit one of my sons. We put about 130 miles on it on interstate roads and city driving. All I can say is this is a SWEEEET ride! It handled extremely well - I did some parking lot maneuvers such as U-turns and sweeping S-turns. Scraped floorboards several times there. The whole time I was maneuvering, I had a passenger onboard (either my wife, my son, or my future daughter-in-law). I felt better about leaning it than I do my Honda Shadow 1100. Since I am still breaking it in, I didn't get above 80 mph (okay, 90 once) on the interstate, but generally stuck to 70-75. Good response, even in 6th gear. Even though 6th is true overdrive, I usually hit it around 50-55 or so. The gears did have a distinctly solid clunk when shifted, but much quieter than the prototype I rode in July. I kind of like the sound - it sounds solid, to me. Very comfortable ride. I was able to move my feet all around on the long floorboards. When the engine heat began warming my legs up, I just moved my feet forward so the air could blow up my pants legs. No problem. My wife loved being able to move around and stretch. She said she felt like she was sitting in a car. She said she wouldn't ever get back on my Shadow - even if it does have a Mustang seat. She said the ride was quite comfortable and didn't bother her back at all (she has had spinal problems and much pain for over 10 years). The electrically-raised windshield was neat. I kept it down most of the time and had a little wind in my face (the way I like it), but sometimes I raised it all the way to be able to hear what my wife was saying. Really good layout of the gauges - and they were easy to read at night with the blue lighting. Most of them were analog, the way I like them, but the information display was digital. It was pretty easy to figure out how to cycle through the displays - total miles, trip 1, trip 2, cumulative miles per gallon, cumulative time ridden, instantaneous miles per gallon, and range (how many miles left in the gas tank). Also on the digital information display was the time, temperature, and which gear the bike was in (sometimes there was a bit of lag time in the gear indicator, and it would take a little while for it to catch up with the actual gear it was in - a little bothersome when trying to find first gear and are already there, even though the readout shows 2nd). I liked the radio and speakers, especially the way the volume went up or down proportional with my speed. The speakers weren't all that, though, and the sound was kind of distorted at higher speeds (goes with the territory, though). The headlight and the HID light was freaking AWESOME! I am used to the wimpy lighting on my Shadow (even with the H-4 bulb and two driving lights), so the way the Vision lit up the world totally rocked! On the other hand, though, the rocker switches on the dash panel (control switches for the heated handgrips, hazard flashers, HID light) would have been better had they had some kind of lighting to either show what they were or if they were on. I thought my wife was going to have a hemmorhage when I demonstrated the tip-over points on the bike. I told her and the kids, "Watch this," and let the bike fall over on its side. The tip-over point held it up at about a 45-degree angle, which made it easy to pick back up. They were properly amazed. :wink: The trunk does indeed hold two large full-face helmets, with just a scosh bit of room left over. The trunk lid light was handy, too. Yep, love the new ride. I'll post photos later - we were too busy riding to take pics of the new Vision. |